Under The Setting Sun
by secretfanficlover
Summary: Pansy decides to make sure of Harry's intentions with her best friend, in perhaps the sneakiest way possible.


**This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

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Word Count: 1647

Title: Under The Setting Sun

Beta: lun 27

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Golden Snitch

[Name] Crissie

[School] Uagadou

[House] Ogyinae

Santa Clause: Write about giving and receiving.

(pairing) your OTP

(word) gingerbread

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Hogwarts

Assignment

Yearly:

Prompt 983 [Title] Under The Setting Sun

Seasonally:

Days of the year: 1st October: National Homemade Cookies Day: Write about someone baking cookies.

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_"So the more things remained the same, the more they changed after all. Nothing endures. Not love, not a tree, not even a death by violence."_

Pansy didn't know what to believe, she never trusted Harry Potter, and when she found out that Draco was interested in him, she didn't think he could be trusted to be the man he deserves.

So she decided to do the only thing she knew best, interrogate him. She knew that Draco was going to be home in a couple of hours, and maybe she could invite him over under the pretence of getting to know the potential boyfriend and giving him her stamp of approval.

Draco had always been her best friend, and she wasn't content to just let him go and ruin his life for Harry Potter. She wasn't even sure that he was in love with her best friend. So she hacked a plan to find out what the two of them were really thinking. She went into the kitchen, and started a batch of her famous chocolate chip cookies, and then attempted to move on to gingerbread cookies. She loved baking cookies, but this batch was special. She slipped a few drops of Veritaserum into the gingerbread cookies and hid the potion vial in her robes, whistling as she worked. When Draco came home, the house was filled with the smell of baking treats.

"Welcome home," she greeted from the kitchen, making sure to store the special cookies separately from the rest of them.

"Pansy, dear," he greeted, kissing her cheek. "Been baking again?"

She nodded encouragingly. She knew he wouldn't be able to tell she was up to something with all those stars in his eyes.

"May I have some?" he asked her and the two went into their yellow-walled kitchen together.

"There's not nearly enough cookie representation," Draco teased before biting into one of the chocolate cookies, and giving an appreciative groan.

"Don't tease," she scolded. "Tell me about your date."

He looked abashed at the terminology, but didn't even correct her. The two of them talked for ages about what he had done with Harry. The movie they watched, the way his emerald green eyes sparkled when he laughed at Draco's jokes, and the way he smiled. Pansy needed to prevent herself from rolling her eyes.

"Are you really that naive? I'm sure he isn't even gay," Pansy insisted. She believed that the two of them would always be best friends and roommates, especially after it came out that he was gay. She never thought his feelings would change and he would get into a relationship with the man he used to hate. Well, it wasn't a relationship just yet, but it was heading there fast if she didn't put a stop to it. After everything else that had changed, couldn't she just hold on to one thing? She only wanted one thing to stay the same.

"Of course he is, I'll prove it to you," Draco said, watching the sun setting in their Tuscan yellow kitchen, causing it to look like the room was alight with flames.

"Fine, bring him over then," Pansy said.

"I will."

* * *

Pansy was nervous, but she could tell Draco was happy as he waited for Harry to arrive. She took out the plate of special cookies carrying the Veritaserum, and placed them in the middle of the table. She saw Draco reach for one, and scolded him.

"Not yet," she said. "It's for when he arrives."

He ignored her, and started nibbling on the edge of one of the cookies. She rolled her eyes, but it was too late to stop him. The doorbell rang, and Draco opened it up. Pansy gulped as she watched them greeting.

"Harry, so great to have you, I've been pacing a hole in the floor," Draco admitted. Harry blushed, and Draco stood aside to let him in. "Come in then."

"I'm happy to be here," Harry said. Then he saw Pansy. "Thank you for the invitation."

'I needed to restore the balance of power,' she thought. "Want a cookie?" she asked with a smile.

Harry nodded and grabbed one off the tray. "Draco, what are you doing?" Pansy asked when she saw him wandering towards their Christmas decorations.

"I'll be hanging around the mistletoe, hoping to be kissed," Draco said, and Harry went red in the face. As soon as he disappeared off, she turned to Harry.

"What do you think of that?" she asked Harry.

"I want to go and kiss him," Harry said. "I don't understand it, but I've been wanting to kiss him since the first time we went out."

Pansy tried to sound like there was nothing unusual about Draco admitting he wanted to be kissed.

"Do you love him?" she asked.

"Of course," Harry admitted, after struggling a moment. She could tell he didn't want to admit it to her.

"Why don't you want to tell me the truth?" Pansy continued.

"Because I am worried you would tell him and scare him off. I'm no good at this romance stuff." He shrugged.

"Oh, would you cheat on him?"

"Of course not!" Harry said immediately, and Pansy didn't even see any attempt to fight the words. "I don't care what you believe, Pansy, I thought you had changed. I have, and so has Draco."

He walked over to Draco and Pansy overheard them by the tree. "Would you ever want to... you know, like, hang out sometime with me?" Harry asked Draco with a smile.

"We hang out all the time," Draco said, and Pansy spotted Harry's eyes on the mistletoe.

"I meant something different," he said, and Pansy saw him advance on Draco slowly, slowly enough for either of them to stop what was happening. She sighed, and left the room.

* * *

The next morning, she woke up, and both of them were still in the house. Pansy heard Harry in the kitchen. They sounded angry.

"What in Merlin's name do you think?" Harry argued, and she had hope that perhaps the two realised they weren't right for each other. She swung the door open and her hopes vanished. The angry glares focused on her for a second, before their expressions changed. She spotted some of the chocolate chip cookies on the table. She sat down at the table, and reached for one.

"Do you mind turning the kettle on, Draco?" she asked, wanting something to dip the cookie into.

"Sure," he said, it seemed like he was struggling to contain his emotions, but she shrugged it off. She waited for Draco to pass her a cup of coffee and then she asked.

"Did he spend the night?" she nodded in Harry's direction.

Harry opened his mouth to speak, then Draco interrupted him.

"It is so important that you do not finish that sentence," Draco said.

She bit into the cookie in her hand and asked. "Why not?"

"Because that isn't what is important right now," Draco replied. Once she swallowed her first mouthful of cookie a strange sensation came over her.

"Why did you put Veritaserum into our gingerbread cookies?" Harry asked, trying to contain his fury.

"I wanted to protect him! He is my best friend. The world is so wrong. I didn't want him getting hurt because I know how much he loves you," she clapped a hand over her mouth and then realised. They had found the potion, and sprinkled it onto the cookies on the table. She never would have expected her own friend to do something like this. "I never thought you would betray me like this," she whined at Draco.

"You betrayed me!" he yelled. "I could have made a fool of myself in front of him, what do you have to say about that?"

"I only wanted you to stay with me and not get hurt. I didn't want to lose you," Pansy admitted miserably.

"Well, we should thank her," Harry said suddenly. "You have given us the best thing we could ever ask for." The two Slytherin's looked at him with puzzled expressions. "Love."

Draco blushed, his pale cheeks tinted pink.

"Oh come on, you can't honestly say you love each other, you make no sense as a couple," she complained. But they were no longer listening. They left her with her coffee for the potion to wear off.

* * *

That night Draco planned something special for Harry, a picnic outside the house, with music and everything. He was intent on spending a nice romantic afternoon with his new boyfriend. He was giving Pansy the cold shoulder for a while, just in case she decided that her punishment hadn't been severe enough. When Harry arrived, Draco was nervous all over again. What if now that they had had time apart, Harry realised he didn't want to be with him after all? As soon as Draco saw that smile and the way his emerald green eyes sparkled with delight, he knew there was no reason to worry.

"Hi," he said, walking up to Harry.

"I see we set up outside today?" Harry asked, but didn't give Draco a chance to respond before moving in to kiss him.

"What was that?" Draco asked when they broke apart, breathless.

"Been wanting to do that again all day," Harry grinned cheekily.

Draco blushed again, and they sat down on the picnic blanket. They sat talking for a few hours, and eating snacks from the basket.

"Want to dance?" Harry asked. Draco simply nodded, and the two of them danced in the garden, under the setting sun.

* * *

Pansy was watching two of them through the kitchen window, and saw a genuine smile of happiness on her best friends face. She didn't want to believe it, but faced with it now, she knew that Harry genuinely cared about her friend, and he would never hurt her.


End file.
